Isn't it surprising what you see on the news?
by Sidura
Summary: Interlude from Rituals and Chocolate Cream Pie, Basically how Alec McDowell met John Winchester or how Alec almost got his head blown off by a crazy guy. Slight MA
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer - I own nothing, but if anyone is willing to sell at a reasonable price I am willing to negotiate.

This is another interlude from Rituals and Chocolate Cream Pie - and a kind of sequel to Burnin' in my Dream though this is sent 10 years after that story.

For anyone who hasn't read the other stories, those are crossovers with Supernatural, (Burnin' in my dreams is over in the Supernatural category). Sam and Dean found a little girl, a laptop and took them to Ellen. While there, Dean got an idea, and accidentally rose John from the dead and threw himself, his brother and Jo, 19 years into the future. When they got there, they found their dad was alive again, now married to Ellen and they had set up home in Seattle after raising the little girl that Dean and Sam had found, and there was the small matter of the guy who had Dean's face, who went by the name of Alec and all of his friends, enemies as well as the Demon that was still on their tale.

This is for the people that asked (well all four of you!) to see how John met Alec, with Max, Logan, and everybody else playing a little minor role. Although there is a little M/A on the side.

Special Thanks to Twinkiecat and Rospberry for looking over this for me.

* * *

Four days had gone by since the raising of the flag, four days of watching the tanks roll in, the politicians and TV crews standing near the fences decrying the state of the country and demanding for someone to blame for all of this. Four days of watching the ordinaries gather with their placards and signs – one side saying that they were an abomination to God and the other saying to leave them alone.

Four days of sitting and waiting for who would blink first, who would fire the first shot, as neither side could back down. Four days of them trying to get Cindy, Sketchy and Logan out safely, before they got sick, before their presence was used as an excuse for the guard to come rolling in, and most importantly so Logan could try and get the other side of the story out.

Normal had been on the TV constantly – as had all the other Jam Pony hostages – saying that they hadn't been hurt, telling anyone who would listen that the first shot had been fired by the cops and not the transgenics, explaining how they had been safe until the SWAT team had come bursting in. That the transgenics had just reacted to defend themselves.

Max had taken the lead, taken the place that everyone else had desperately needed to be filled; it had saddened her to do it, but she had no choice, and they had all fallen in behind her when she had announced that they weren't escaping and evading. They needed someone to give them orders, a purpose, a reason that explained their existence, one that had been lacking since the day that Manitcore had burned.

She hid it from everyone, apart from Logan and Cindy, that she cried herself to sleep – when she did sleep – because her kind still couldn't deal with being free. They needed to be told what to do; even Alec; he had stopped arguing with her.

He'd taken up position as her second without a thought, dealing with the few that had a problem with an '09er being in charge, but it was the way he had done it that had bothered her, though he hadn't meant to hurt her, it was just that they hadn't had time for a fight.

"She knows how to handle them better than us."

With that one sentence, he had separated her from her own kind and from the ordinary folk. She wasn't one or the other, and he'd apologized to her afterward in that way only Alec could, but it had worked – no one else had challenged her after that.

The transhumans, who had set up home in Terminal City, hadn't been fools; they had prepared for a fight, knew that one day someone would come for them, and it wasn't like they had somewhere else to go. They had stockpiled food, medicine, as well as enough weapons to take over a small South American country. Mole and the others just hadn't been willing to share with the X's up until that point, and the supplies wouldn't last long in a prolonged siege, especially with the numbers of transgenics that were coming to Seattle.

Four days of securing the perimeter, four days of Alec and Mole handing out guard duty as more and more members of the National Guard took up position outside, and four days of hymns. Four days of out-of-tune singing from the people who where crowded around the gates, some claiming that they were there to witness God's wrath on those who tampered with nature, others to lend their support for those poor creatures who didn't know any better. Truth was that even though one or two of them where there for both sides, most where there to see a bloodbath and they didn't care which side won.

* * *

"Can I shoot one of them, please?" Mole said.

"No," Max stated flatly as they sat round the table trying to work out what areas needed reinforcing. Unfortunately, the table was situated in a room close to the area where a group of protesters had been singing.

"Is it not getting to you guys, too?" he asked. "Come on, this is worse than the psychological torture practice they used to put us through."

Max didn't even bother to reply.

"Just one, just the one that doesn't know the words to 'Old Rugged Cross'; I'll wing him… please? I just don't think I can take another murdering of that song," Mole said. "I'll even give myself up to White afterward."

"If it's just him, then I say go for it – he ain't no Elvis," Alec replied, yawning. "What do you guys say?"

"Huh?" Logan looked up, taking out an earplug.

"Mole, you're not shooting anyone."

"Come on, Max, it could be your one and only chance to get rid of him," Alec said.

"How long have you been up?" Max asked, looking at Alec's pale face.

He shrugged, he honestly couldn't tell her. Granted, he didn't have her vaunted shark DNA, but he still had a couple of good hours in him.

Logan looked at the other man. "Alec, you look like shit."

"Well, it was the look I was going for," Alec said with a smile on his face.

"And when was the last time you got your arm looked at?" Max asked, knowing fine well that Alec probably hadn't had the bullet wound – that he had gotten at Jam Pony – seen to in a couple of days.

"I'm fine," Alec said. "Can we get back to this before they start polluting the airwaves again?"

"Alec, go get that bandage changed," Max said. "And while you're at it, get a couple of hours sleep. That's an order; we need you on your feet."

He stared at her for a second and then got to his feet, nodding his acknowledgement, before he turned and left to go to the small corner of Terminal City that he had claimed as his own.

Logan watched him go before turning to Max.

"He didn't even argue."

"It was an order – he wouldn't," Mole replied as Max studied the crudely drawn map of Terminal City.

* * *

"Hey, Joshua," Alec said as he came back to the curtained-off area that was serving as his, Joshua's and Sketchy's sleeping quarters. Sketchy was out for the count in the corner after spending the day with one of the work details.

"Hello, Alec, good meeting?" Joshua asked, handing his friend his food allocation for the day.

"So-so, big fella," Alec replied. "How was your day?"

"Baby burp and Joshua watch," Joshua said, smiling; he'd spent a lot of his time with Gem since getting there. The big guy may be as scary as hell to look at but he was no soldier, instead he'd been stuck on babysitting duty, spending time with those females with babies and the transgenics who were in no condition to fight.

"What about sleeping beauty?" Alec nodded in Sketchy's direction. "How's he doing today?"

"Sketchy doing okay – no coughs and sneezes. Tired though, working hard – any way to get him and Cindy out, yet?"

Alec shook his head. "No, not without risking someone taking a shot at them."

"Alec, tired then," Joshua said. "Little fella kick you out."

"Ordered me to get a couple of hours."

"Then Joshua won't disturb you," Joshua said, getting up and leaving him.

* * *

Alec was just settling into one of his really nice dreams, one of the ones involving him and half of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleading squad, when he was jerked back to reality.

"What are you?"

Alec blinked, focusing on the barrel of the shotgun that was inches away from his face; the old bearded guy on the other end seemed to be waiting for a response.

"I asked you a question – what are you?"

Alec didn't know how to answer that question.

"In what way do you mean?" Alec said, pushing himself up on his elbows.

"What the hell?" Sketchy asked, half awake and seeing someone pointing a gun at his friend.

"Sketch, it's okay – no sudden movements," Alec said on seeing Sketchy's face.

Alec turned to the man. "Look, if you want to take a shot, fine – I'm one, but he's not, so your problem's with me, all right?"

"Look, dude, we're all the same under the skin, you know; what is it they say, 'If you prick us, do we not bleed?'" Sketchy said, trying to get the other guy's attention.

"That Shakespeare?" Alec asked.

Sketchy nodded. "One of the guys down in the basement had a copy of the complete works, was asking me about it."

"You get very far with it?" Alec asked, lightly.

"Not really," Sketchy replied, his eyes firmly fixed on the pump-action shotgun that was currently pointed at Alec.

"What are you?" the man with the gun asked again.

"I told you, I'm one of them. I'm one of the big, bad, evil transgenics," Alec replied.

The man hovered for a second; it was like he hadn't expected that as an answer, as if he had expected something else.

"Cristo."

Both Alec and Sketchy looked at the man. "What?"

"You're not possessed?" He took a step back.

"Possessed?" Sketchy replied.

Alec sat up, taking a better look at his assailant; he was dishevelled, unshaven, looking as if he had slept in his clothes – though they where in better condition than most of the homeless who had previously called Terminal City 'home'.

"Then why do you have his face?"

"Whose face?" Alec replied as two of Alec's fellow transgenics jumped the guy from behind, forcing Alec's attacker to the ground as they wrestled the gun from him. Alec and Sketchy sat there and watched as they proceeded to drag the guy out the area.

Alec got to his feet quickly, pulling back the curtain to see the watch the figure being taken away.

Alec called out "WHOSE FACE?"

* * *

Hope this an okay start for this - also just to let the people who might want to know another chapter of Rituals should be winging it way here soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer - Please see previous chapter.

Please let me know if you like this or not - it would make my day to know.

* * *

"So, who is he?" Max asked as she came down to the small room they were holding the unknown man in.

"No idea, he doesn't seem like those at the gate," replied the panther man, who had been posted as guard to their 'visitor'.

Max clenched her jaw. "How did he get in?"

There was no response from anyone in the room.

"Find out – I want that hole plugged ASAP."

* * *

Logan looked at the man; he was tied to a chair. Whoever he was, he hadn't broken eye contact with Max since she had come into the room, working out that the others considered her in charge.

"What do you want?" Max asked the man as she loosened his hands and handed him a bottle of water. He took a second, seeming concerned that Logan had started going through the things that had been taken from him.

He turned back to Max. "Where is he?"

"Who?" Max replied.

"You know who – where is he?"

Max knotted her brow. "Alec? You mean Alec?"

"Is that his name?" the man asked. "Where is he?"

"Why do you want him?" Max replied.

Logan stopped searching. "Max, you may want to look at this."

She turned to him. "What?"

She took a couple of steps to the table where Logan had emptied the bag of supplies that their intruder had brought with him. He had an old battered picture in his hand – a photograph of two teenagers, both as tall as each other, though one looked at least a couple of years younger than the other.

The man stood up, looking as though he was resisting the urge to launch himself at them. "Don't you touch that!"

Max turned to him. "Where did you get this?"

"That's none of your business," the man spat out.

She swallowed. "Please, can you tell me where you got this?"

"I took it."

She looked shocked at his response; had this man known her brother? "You knew him? You knew Ben?"

He sat back down before saying anything. "Where is this 'Alec'?"

"How did you know Ben?"

"Max, can I talk to you?" Logan interrupted.

She stepped away, still watching their mystery intruder from the corner of her eye. "What?"

Logan handed her the picture. "Look at it."

"So, it's Ben and some other kid," she replied.

"No, Max, not who's in the picture. Look at it."

"So what? It's old."

"Yes, but how old?"

She looked at it: it was careworn and faded, but it had been taken care of. "I don't know."

Logan looked over at the man before turning back to her. "I can't say for sure, but I'd say that that picture is pre-pulse."

"What?"

"I think that picture is more than fifteen years old – probably more like twenty – and if I'm right, then there is no way that kid could be either Ben or Alec."

"So who is it, then?" Max asked, looking back at the man sitting in the chair behind her.

"No idea, but I'm guessing there is one person that will be able to get some answers out of him."

* * *

Alec sighed as he entered the room; he could see the man tense at his presence.

"Look, they've all got this idea that I can get you to talk, so either you do or you don't, but can you make up your mind quick, I've got other things I need to be doing."

Alec could see the man was weighing him up, and he pulled up a chair, turning it around so he could rest him arms on the back

"Your arm?" the man said.

Alec glanced over at the bandage covering his healing wound; it was creating a slight bulge under his shirt. "Didn't duck when I should have."

He smiled. "Bullets are a pain like that."

"Yeah, they are. So, you going to give or what? 'Cause I'm not exactly in the mood for a long drawn-out thing right now."

"You got the same attitude that he did." The man looked Alec straight in the eye as he said it.

Alec nodded. He'd been shown the picture of a younger version himself and another teenager.

"Did you thought I was him?" Alec asked.

"No," the man answered stoically.

"Where is he?"

"You tell me."

Alec shrugged. "Can we start this again? We kinda got off on the wrong foot, what with you with the gun, me with the small army at my back. I'm 494, or you can call me Alec, if you like."

"I'll take Alec, if you don't mind."

"Fine. And you are?"

"John, my name is John Winchester."

"Right, John, if you ain't one of those whack jobs, and you know I'm not the one in the picture, why are you here?"

"Saw you on the news," John replied. "Needed to know why you had his face."

"So why can't you ask him? Don't know where he is?" Alec enquired.

John shook his head, and Alec got the feeling that there was a world of hurt going on inside the man.

"What happened?"

John shrugged, not answering the question.

"What about the other guy in the picture? Does he know?" Alec asked.

"Sam," John said quietly.

"Can't you ask him?"

John looked at the floor solemnly. They sat there in silence for a few moments before John answered, "No."

"Him too, huh? When?" Alec asked.

"2007. Don't know what happened, they just… were gone."

Alec clenched his jaw. "Right, and what were they to you?"

John's head snapped up, fire in his eyes.

"Your children?" Alec asked. "Your sons?"

"Yes."

"And you've been looking for them ever since?" Alec asked. He couldn't put a finger on it, but something inside of him was hurting, and he couldn't fathom why.

There was someone who looked like him, who had disappeared, and he had had someone who hadn't given up, kept looking even after all these years. This feeling he was having had nothing to do with the current situation, nothing to do with the siege.

Alec supposed the closest thing he could compare it to was the feeling of jealousy he got when he saw ordinaries walking happily down the street, when he saw someone who had a better hand a poker, or the anger he felt with himself when one of his scams went wrong.

Alec couldn't say that he had any experience that could compare to a father-son bond. But, Alec had family: his unit, before he had been torn away from them for solo missions; then there was Joshua and Sketchy, closest thing he had to brothers; and Max and Cindy, his sisters. There was Logan and Normal, though they were more like those annoying relatives that turned up at reunions. But not a father or a mother.

Okay, maybe Max shouldn't really be classed in the sister category – especially seeing how often he'd checked out her ass.

Hey, he was a guy – and she had one fine ass – if she didn't want him to look then she shouldn't walk in front of him. She was more like a second cousin, once-removed by marriage to a great uncle who he never saw and no-one really remembers anyway. And why was he thinking about this, right now?

"What do you know?" he asked.

"Not much, just that they disappeared along with my wife's girl. One day the three of them where there, and the next, gone."

"And they hadn't just taken off?" Alec asked.

John shook his head. "No, they wouldn't have, their things were still there. Molly was… so much blood."

"Blood?" Alec didn't like the sound where this was going.

John stilled, not wanting to say anything else.

"Who's Molly, was she all right?"

"She's fine," John said through gritted teeth. It was obvious that he didn't have the energy to make something up.

Alec silently handed over the picture to him, and he took it, looking down at it before putting it in his inside pocket.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," Alec said, getting up to leave. "What was his name, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Dean, his name was Dean."

* * *

"So?" Sketchy asked as Alec came back to the others.

"Just some guy who's lost his kids – and I look like one of them," Alec said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Says they disappeared about fifteen years ago."

"How did he know to come here?" Max asked.

"Guess he saw the news – Jam Pony and your entrance, Max, has been pretty much been the lead for the past week," Alec replied.

"So, he lost his kids and thought you might know something?"

Alec shrugged. "Just seems like a desperate guy who had something really bad happen to his kids."

"What are you guys going to do with him?" Sketchy asked.

"Hell if I know," Max said.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer - Please see previous chapter.

Please let me know if you like this or not - it would make my day to know.

* * *

John looked around the grubby little windowless room he found himself in. There was only one exit, and he was pretty sure there was something ugly sitting outside it. Ellen had been right about this: he should thought it through better.

_He had been helping Molly tune up the Impala, trying to get the girl to come home from her friend Geraldine's house, hell, even getting her to talk to her mother would be a start. He didn't like their daughter's choice of boyfriend either, but Ellen didn't have to be so rude about it to the girl's face. Ellen had made it plain and clear that she wasn't going to make the first move, but the girl was just as stubborn. _

_She may not have been Ellen's by birth, but, boy, did that girl take after her adopted mother sometimes. But, Billy deserved some peace, and he was going to get it, even if it meant that John stayed home from a hunt to make sure he didn't leave his boy alone in the middle of a war zone._

_His wife hadn't been happy about giving the girl the car, either, but he had let it sit in the backyard since Billy was a year old. When they moved back into the house, after living in the Roadhouse until the chaos caused by the pulse ended. _

_He had kept the car in running order, hoping that someday the boys and Jo would return. Dean with that stupid grin on his face, and both Sam and Jo ready to go another round with their respective parents. But that hadn't happened; instead, the car had become a sad reminder of something that he and Ellen would never get over. _

_So, thinking that it was for the best _–_ though, maybe in the back of his mind he hoped that wherever he was, Dean would hear what had been done _–_ John handed the keys to Molly the day she graduated high school._

_They had just finished the oil change when Billy had come tearing out of the house, yelling for John to come inside, grabbing at his father's arm, pulling him inside._

"_Right, I'm coming. What is it?"_

"_Dad, you got to come see – it's him, I swear it's him."_

"_Billy, what are you talking about?" Molly asked her brother._

"_You got to see, it's him, he's on the news. I swear I'm not making it up!"_

"_Who is on the news?"_

"_Dad, it's him. Dean's on the news."_

"_What?" _

* * *

_Ellen got back from the suppliers late. Truth was, she was avoiding another argument with John about Molly. Where the hell did he get off telling her how to deal with her daughter _–_like he got on with Sam any better. Molly was in the kitchen when Ellen got in._

"_Mom, he's going to go. I tried to get him to calm down, but he's going to go," Molly said as Ellen closed the door._

_John was in their bedroom, throwing things into a bag. _

"_What the hell is going on?" Ellen asked her husband as she stood in the doorway._

"_I got to go to Seattle." _

"_Why the hell do you want to do that?" she asked._

_He didn't answer her as he continued to stuff clothes into a bag._

"_John, why do you have to go to Seattle?"_

"_It's my fault, Mom," Billy said contritely as he stood in the corner of the room watching his father pack._

"_It's no-ones fault, Billy. I'm just going see, all right?" John said to his frowning son._

"_But…"_

_John cut his son off. "No buts, young man. I would have seen it anyway."_

"_Seen what?" Ellen asked._

_"Dean was on the news," Billy answered._

"_What?" Ellen said, moving quickly into the living room to turn on the TV, trying to find a news channel. She had heard that something had kicked off in Seattle earlier that day, but she wasn't sure what it was. _

_She stopped flicking channels when she came to the coverage of the hostage situation at Jam Pony, starting with the girl who had made the grand entrance as the police closed in. The anchor was explaining how the whole thing had started, including the hover drone footage of how a young bike messenger being wounded when he had been taken hostage by something that didn't look human._

"_It ain't him John, no way in hell it's him," Ellen said as John threw the duffel onto the arm of the chair._

"_I know it isn't him," John said, looking at his wife._

"_Then who do you think it could be?" Ellen asked. "Dean's boy?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_John, look at the kid, even if he was Dean's…"  
_

"_Don't you think I know that? He's too old to be sure that Dean will still be hanging around. But he might…"_

"_John, I know how much you want this, but your boy didn't live like a nun, he liked to enjoy himself. So, even if that boy is Dean's son, it doesn't mean that he'll know anyone who can help you."_

"_I know what you want to have happened. That Dean and Jo were that scared of what you'd think that they just ran; that that bastard took Sam, threw me back, and that Jo and Dean just ran."_

"_John, I don't think that," Ellen said, closing her eyes. True, she hoped that Dean was so shit scared of her, that Jo and him had decided to take off and not tell her _–_ but what had happened to Sam in that scenario? Dean would never have left without his brother. The idea that the three of them left Molly for dead put a bitter taste in her mouth, but it was better than the alternative: where the three of them were sucked into hell in place of John._

"_I'll be back in a couple of days – I'm just going to check it out," John stated._

"_And what will you say? 'Hi kid, I might be your grandpa?'" Ellen asked. "Hell, John, how do you know that he's even human? They said there was those trans-genetic things involved."_

"_And what if he ain't, or what if he is a shape-shifter? I'm not having one of those things waking around with my son's face."_

"_John, you'd be going into a war zone," Ellen reasoned._

_John stilled. "That is why you are not going."_

"_You're not telling me that you are going into hell and not having me covering your back on this?" Ellen said, standing off against her husband_

"_Ellen, I can't do what needs to be done if I have to worry about you," John said._

"_You don't think straight when it comes to this," Ellen argued._

"_You ain't coming and we are not fighting about this," John said, glancing pointedly over his wife's shoulder at his and Ellen's two children._

_Ellen looked at her children _–_that was low of John using them to get her to stay. He knew fine well she wouldn't argue on that point._

"_How long will you be gone?" she asked._

"_A week, two tops," John said. "I'll call you when I get there. "_

Four days later, here he was, stuck in a stupid little room.

* * *

The door opened and Alec was standing there. "Come on, we got a question for you."

John stepped out of the room, and followed Alec to the roof, where a small group were gathered.

Alec stopped to introduce John to the others. John was polite and nodded, listening to their names. Max, Sketchy, Cindy, Logan, Mole.

"We've got a favor to ask of you," Alec said to John as the others watched.

"What do you guys want?" John asked.

Alec looked over at the group at the gate, before turning back to John, "You got in here without them, or us, noticing you."

John shrugged. "So?"

"We need to get some people out," Max said. "There is going to be a fight here, nothing we can do to stop it, but we have children and some others that shouldn't be here. We were hoping that you could show us how you got in, so we can get them out."

Cindy shook her head. "I ain't going, Boo, I ain't. They'll slaughter you guys without us here."

"Cindy, you're going. No more arguments," Max stated. "You're ordinary, and you should go."

"OC's right Max. I know Logan has to go and get the word out that the cops shot first and the cult came in as the SWAT team. But with us here, it is still a hostage situation, and that makes it harder for the army to take over," Sketchy reasoned.

"Cult? What cult?" John asked.

"It's a long story: snakes, inbreeding, a bit of mamby pamby demon worship," Alec said jokingly. "You know, the usual 'comic book taking over the world' bull."

"You're just bitter that she beat you," Logan retorted at Alec's remark.

"One–handed, I was one-handed!" Alec replied, peering at Logan.

"Demon worship?" John asked – that, he could get his head around.

"So, you going to help us or not?" Max asked crossing her arms as she waited for a response.

"Your friend's right, if the 'ordinary' people go, the tanks will come rolling in here," John said.

"See," Sketchy said, smiling at Max.

"If you two stay, you are going to get sick," Max said firmly, "You are going."

Cindy shook her head. "No, you guys will be wiped out."

"Yeah, but us taking a stand will give the ones that can get out, time," Alec said, looking at the ground.

"Max, we can get more than a handful of people out," Logan said.

She shook her head. "We've talked about this. The really young kids and the females with babies we try to get out, but the rest of us stay. You've got to get the message out and you can't do it here."

"What message?" John asked.

"That we didn't start this, all we want is to be left alone," Mole said.

Max shook her head. "No, we want to have a chance– that is all we want."

"Then me getting the story from the outside won't help – the public need to see you guys as people," Logan said.

"Yeah, like that is going to happen," Mole said sarcastically.

"We have the equipment here to broadcast, Eyes' Only can get the story out, but we need a way to link to the network."

John looked at the tall man in the glasses in front of him, "Eyes' only? The idiot that keeps interrupting the TV?"

Alec couldn't help the grin that spread across his face at that moment.

"Wait, a link to the network?" John asked. "The internet and TV?"

Logan nodded.

"That, I might be able to help you with, but I need phone," John said, smiling.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer - Please see earlier chapters.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this and the other stories, - I promise that there is another chapter of rituals sitting in my hard drive, I just haven't had time to post it yet.

* * *

"Can you get that?" she yelled down the corridor as the phone went off, she had gotten in from the club in which she was worked and had just taken off her shoes off and all she wanted now, was to get into a hot bath.

The ringing continued, causing her to sigh, resigning herself to the fact that she would have to put off getting into the tub for another few minutes, considering that the music blaring from the other room probably meant that he hadn't heard her, or more importantly the ringing phone.

"Hello," she answered.

"Leanne, is that you?" John asked.

"John?" she replied, "Thank God. Are you all right?"

John sighed. "Take it Ellen's been on the line?"

"'Course she called us, John, she was worried, she needed to know what was really going on there. Did you find him?"

"Yeah, he's not a shifter," John said.

"Then…?" she asked tentatively.

"No, he's not."

"Oh, John, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it was a stupid idea, I know," John said as Alec and the others watched on.

Alec looked at John when he heard him say that, guessing that John was hoping that if he couldn't find his son that maybe he had found a grandson, though Alec was confused about the shifter comment.

As Alec continued to listen to the conversation John Winchester was having, he couldn't help being more than a little suspicious of why this man had insisted that he could help them by placing a call to a house in the suburbs, a couple of states away. The number of which, Dix had triple-checked, before John had been handed the phone.

John continued. "Leanne, is that lazy-assed boyfriend of yours about?"

"Sure, I'll just get him."

John could hear noises in the background.

"Hey, John, what can I do for you?" Ash asked.

"I'm not going to ask if you know what is going down, seeing how my wife has been on to you," John said.

"You inside that hell hole, I take it?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" John asked.

"Tapped into communication between the command there, and someone back East, said the number with a lower body temp had gone up by one; figured that only a Winchester would be stupid enough to walk into a shit storm like that."

"You told Ellen?" John asked.

Ash sighed. "Do I sound that stupid? So, what do you need? Because you wouldn't call me on a job like this unless you need something big."

"They need help, Ash."

"Oh, Christ, John, I know you're desperate to find something to connect to the guys, but you can't be serious."

"Ash, these things aren't the usual, they were made, and if they were really dangerous they could have done a hell of a more damage than the one or two things we've heard about. Besides, I'm getting the feeling that us and them have an enemy in common."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you when I get out of this," John said quietly, trying not to be heard.

"And you want to help them?"

"The stories I've heard from them; what some of these kids have been through makes me be ashamed to be human."

"John, how do you know they weren't feeding you a line?"

"Because I 've been receiving end, so I damn well know when I'm getting spun a story about something like that," John said firmly, remembering the time he spent being tortured in the pit. "Christ, Ash, the bastards that made these kids stuck some of them in basements to see how long it would take them to die; they dissected the ones that didn't work the way they wanted."

"Please, I've just eaten," Ash said, cutting John off. "Right, I get the point: we're the bad guys in this. So, what do you need?"

"It isn't me; they need a tap into the networks."

"Ah, they're going the PR route, that's smart."

"Yeah, they are planning to get 'Eyes' Only' to do a broadcast, but they need a link."

"What, you got Logan Cale with you?" Ash asked, knowing that John wasn't stupid enough to call him on an unsecured line.

"Yeah, why?" John asked.

"John, please, you got 'Eyes' Only' himself in there with you."

John looked over at the tall man with the glasses, realizing that he had insulted him earlier that afternoon, "You sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure, and before you ask it's a long story," Ash replied, before sighing. "Knew the guy was getting sloppy, with this transgenic thing, when I could trail his hack back to him, but I didn't think he'd take it this far."

"Can you do it or not?" John asked, trying to veer Ash back to the reason why he called.

"'Course I can. Tell them to be ready in three hours."

"Thanks, Ash. I owe you one."

"Just don't get yourself killed or anything; Ellen would find someway to blame me."

"You got three hours, he says," John told the group as he got off the phone. "You have something to broadcast; he can get you the satellite hack."

"Good," Dix said, looking at the limited computer equipment they had.

* * *

The transgenics were able to show how the cop shot first at Jam Pony, just like Normal had said, and then they lined the others up to tell their stories; the kids, the females with babies, got them to tell their tales.

They told the world at large about the experiments, the things Manitcore had done to them. Told of the things that Manticore had gotten them to do, and what happened to those who disobeyed orders.

Got the word out that the transgenics weren't coming out of Terminal City, not out of some need for defiance, but that they weren't going to stand by and be picked off one by one, as they expected no mercy from the authorities. That they weren't going to be anyone's dirty little secret anymore, and if they were going down, then they were going down in full view of the world.

Ash's hack – instead of lasting the customary sixty seconds like the normal 'Eyes' Only' broadcast – had lasted over four hours, and it had hit everywhere, every channel and every server, it even crossed the borders to Canada, to Mexico, and the government couldn't cut it off as the voices began to cry 'Stop'.

The idea of genocide being committed in their name didn't go down too well with public at large, who were sitting down to dinner. Especially when those who were saying that they were frightened, were two children under ten, holding a baby that was in their care because a mob had killed their parents for trying to protect the three of them.

They were most vocal in areas which had communities that could remember the stories of their parents and grandparents; stories about a time when it had been them in a similar situation, where they were rounded up or picked off, just for being alive, for being the wrong color or faith, at the wrong time. The stories that they had told to them that at some point mentioned a cross burning in a yard, before someone was found hanging in a tree; or the stories they had been told about the camps, about the pain of being branded with a number to keep track of you while the ones you loved were sent to the showers, never to be seen again.

As the news of the public outcry hit them, the transgenics inside the walls of Terminal City allowed themselves to hope.

Everyone, who wore the barcode of Manticore, gave themselves one collective moment to allow themselves to believe that for the first time since they had entered the world outside the gates, and probably for the first time in their whole lives, that everything was going to be okay.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer - Please see earlier chapters

* * *

They waited for what seemed forever until the army had offered a deal – that they would back off if the transgenics would stand down and submit to tests to prove that they weren't a biohazard.

There had been mutterings about not submitting to tests, others about not giving in their weapons – but eventually they told the army that they were willing as long as they could pick the team that came in, and that they could keep their weapons until it was all done.

They picked doctors, not only from the CDC, but from outside the US, all eminent independents; telling the army that any security problems of their DNA getting into the hands of non US scientists was to be sorted out at their end. The scientists turned up, including a couple that they had known. Carr was there as they had requested him and that all the tests were to be done at his hospital's lab.

The non-transgenics there were as much of pin cushion as those that weren't. Sketchy had passed out before the needle had hit his arm, almost sparking a mini riot as both sides accused the other of poisoning him. Full scale fighting had almost broken out when Cindy casually walked over and slapped the man back to consciousness.

As the testing continued Max pulled Carr to one side. "Can you do me a favor?"

"As long as it isn't anything major," Dr Carr replied.

"Can you do a DNA test?" Max asked.

Carr smiled, "And what do you think we'll be doing here, Max?"

"No - can you do one to see if someone is related to someone else."

"Sure, on you and who else?"

She shook her head. "Not me, Alec and him." She pointed at John.

"Why?" Carr asked.

"If it turns out like it should, then you won't need to know."

"Max, I feel uncomfortable about you asking this without their knowledge," Carr said.

"All right – Alec knows, but we don't want to let John know," Max said. "He's got a picture of a kid that looks exactly like Alec and we don't know why."

Carr stood silently for a second. "I'm not running anything without his knowledge, Max."

She sighed. "Fine, you can ask him."

* * *

John was led to a little room in back; Alec was sitting there along with Max and a man in a biohazard suit.

"What's this?" John asked.

"Look, John, you've helped us out so much already and you didn't have to," Alec said.

"So?" John was confused. He was looking at the other man, sure that he had turned up with the medical teams. The man spoke.

"My name is Sam Carr. I'm a doctor here, and I have had dealings with the transgenics before."

"And you're telling me this, why?" John asked.

"You turned up here wanting to know why I look like him, so I guess it would only be fair that we find out," Alec said. Hell, he was curious about it.

Max pulled Alec aside for a second, allowing the doctor to talk to John. "You sure you want to do this, you don't have to."

"Maxie, chill will you," Alec said, flashing her a smile. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"I don't know, it's just…" Max stopped, grabbing his arm, pulling him further away from the others in the room. "I spent years wondering about my surrogate, what I do if I found her."

"Max, this isn't the same. This will just show the guy that I'm not related to him, so he knows for sure. It's just a coincidence that I look like his son."

"And what if it isn't? What if…?"

"What? If what, Maxie? The guy says he never made a deposit in the tadpole bank."

"But what if his son did? What if Manitcore…?"

"Max – he helped us – one way or another let's give him what he came here for. Not that I'm thinking that we're going to be surprised or anything."

"Alec, have you thought this through? What this could mean for you?"

"Take a breath, will you?" Alec said. "I'll be fine. Anyway, I got to make like a porcupine."

She sighed as he walked away to join the doctor and John.

The bloods were taken and they sat and waited. Alec asked a few questions about Dean and Sam; John gave an abridged version of the boys' lives, that their mother had died when Dean was four and that John hadn't taken it too well, the boys finding themselves growing up on the road.

Alec nodded, listening to John describe his sons as larger than life characters, capable of getting into a whole load of scraps – some of which weren't on the right side of the law – but that they had their hearts in the right places.

That when they had disappeared, Sam hadn't been much older than Alec.

John had told Alec what Dean was like: that he could hold his liquor, loved women, had your back in a fight, and loved to be the centre of attention, but was quite content to sit things out and let his little brother shine on those occasions that Sam wanted to. That the only things that really mattered to Dean were his brother, his car and his old man.

John listened to Alec's tale, how he'd been a soldier, but once Manitcore had burned that he had had to find his way in the big bad world. How it had taken some time, and more than a few embarrassing moments, but he had found a little niche that worked for him.

How he'd found work at Jam Pony, enjoyed annoying the hell out of Max, hanging out with Joshua, Sketchy and Cindy; granted, a little B&E and some scams were involved in supplementing his income, but who was squeaky clean these days.

Max watched as the two men talked.

"Boo, you doing okay?" Cindy asked.

Max nodded. "I'm just wondering what is going to happen, that's all."

"That all, Boo? Once people see that they ain't going have an arm drop off or something when they go near you, then they'll back off."

"Won't be that easy."

Cindy shrugged. "No, it won't be, but it'll be a start."

"I know we've got the army off our backs for now, but are they really going to get on with us?"

Cindy sighed, looking over at Alec and John. "What about them?"

Max shrugged, "Don't think Alec hasn't thought this all the way through."

"You jealous, huh?" Cindy asked seeing the expression on Max's face.

Max looked at the floor. "I spent years trying to find out about my mother and Alec, he wasn't even looking and he now he might have found his family."

"Life's a bitch, Boo, but I got your back."

Max smiled at Cindy. "Thanks."

* * *

When Carr came back, Alec stood there, chewing on his nail. John sat in a chair and listened to the man, who was apologizing about how long it had taken to get the results back, explaining the difficulty of testing due to the other components that were present in Alec's DNA.

"Can we get to the point?" Alec said. "I know I'm a cut-and-stitch job, you don't have to go on about it."

"Sorry," Carr said. "Alec, well, the human portion of your DNA does not directly come from Mr Winchester here."

John nodded, he had expected that.

"But it does share a number of alleles in common."

"What does that mean?" John asked.

"That you were right," Carr said. "That Alec is related to you, though from the number of alleles, the results suggest that he is your son, and as you say that you never donated sperm, then that would suggest that they got his DNA from another source."

"But how?" John asked.

Carr shrugged. "I'm not sure, Manitcore was more than adept at genetic manipulation, perfecting many techniques before many other labs did, Mr Winchester but with these results and the resemblance between them, though I couldn't say for definite without a sample of DNA from …Dean, but…"

Alec put up his hand to quieten the doctor.

"Wait a minute, we were told that they used left-over sperm and eggs, but you're saying that I'm a clone of his dead son?" Alec asked, agitated, before storming out of the room.

John didn't say a word, understanding that Alec's world had just been turned upside down.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer - Please see earlier chapters

This bit is a little shorter than most, but I hope it is okay.

Again thanks to Twinkiecat and Rospberry for looking over this for me.

* * *

Alec was quiet over the next few of days, as the results came back from the other scientists, as the army had to grudgingly agree that the transgenics played no threat to public health.

John stayed out of his way, trying to give Alec the space to digest what they had told in that little room, spending time with the transgenics learning about the trials they had faced since gaining their freedom, about White and the cult that seemed determined to wipe them off the face of the earth.

Alec spent most of that time throwing himself into work, planning the next move to make now that they seemed to be negotiating with the government, though he spent his off hours alone, shunning the company of everyone, even Joshua.

Alec was watching the army units change shifts, when Max found him sitting alone on a wall over looking the city. "He's going today, do you know that?"

Alec straightened slightly, not answering Max's question.

She took a step closer to him, "Alec, are you all right?"

"Sure, I'm on top of the world," Alec said with a smile on his face.

"Okay, smart ass. I was just asking."

His shoulders dropped. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, tell me how you feel for once."

Alec peered at her. "You first."

"We playing this game, are we?" Max said as she sat down.

Alec looked at the city again.

"So, what, you're not exactly what you thought you were? You're still you. Just think about it like the time you found out about Ben."

"Slightly different, Max," Alec said flatly.

"Why?"

"No-one is dragging me down a corridor and throwing me into Psy-Ops because of this."

Max bit her lip, not exactly expecting that as a response. "Can I tell you something – something I've never told anyone, not even Logan?"

"What?"

"Lydecker told me something, before we came back to Manitcore to take out the database." Max took a breath, not wanting to acknowledge what she had been told that night. "He told me that I was inspired by his wife, that they did it as a reward to him."

"Inspired?" Alec looked at her for a second, taking in what she had just said, before the blood drained from his face. "You knew? You knew there was a chance that I could be… and you let me go through with it – that test?"

"I didn't know – I wasn't sure, there could have been nothing between you, or it could have been one of his sons that gave. Then you could have been his grandson - would that have been better?"

He put his head in his hands. "I don't know. I don't know anything right now."

"Fine, then just sit here, then, and miss out."

"Miss out on what?" Alec asked.

"A family, Alec, a real family. You got one and you didn't even ask for it. He came looking for you."

Alec shook his head. "No, he didn't! He came looking for Dean and Sam, not me."

"Well, he got you." Max was almost yelling at this point. "You know what I'd do if my mother came in here asking after me?"

"What?"

"I'd do what I'd have to, to have her in my life, but you have to go ignore him because he isn't picture perfect version of a father."

He stood up. "I'm not you, Max! I never wanted this; I didn't cry myself to sleep at night wondering why mommy and daddy weren't there for me. I don't want a family, Max, and they don't want to have me around."

"Why do you say that?"

"You know why – we're a danger to them, Max, we always will be."

"What? The old Alec rule – ordinaries are for fun and nothing more?"

Alec didn't answer her, turning away. She got up and grabbed at his arm.

"Well, tough shit, Alec, you got a family. You got a guy who came looking for his family, got us all out of the shit, who from the looks of it wants to get to know you, but now he's going to leave because he thinks you don't want to get to know him."

Alec clenched his jaw. "Who does he want to get to know Max? Alec or 494?"

"They're both you! You should go and give the man a chance!"

"Is that an order, ma'am?"

"You bastard!" She slapped him

Next thing she knew he had her pinned up against the wall, his mouth pressed to hers. She made a half-hearted attempt to push him away before wrapping herself around him, letting him continue, letting him take control, letting him push Logan, the virus, White and everything that existed outside that small dark corner of terminal city of her mind.

It was the first time she had been with one of her own, the first time she didn't have to hold back or take the lead, the first time she didn't have to be frightened about revealing what she truly was.

She lost herself in his fevered exploring, the roughness of his hands over her skin, the fire that had begun to burn inside her, as he pressed her against that wall.

She let herself revel in the fact that she wasn't telling someone what to do, as much as he was in the fact he didn't have to do as he was told.

She let him reclaim the parts of himself that were Alec, rather than the shadow of 494 that had surfaced over the past few days. The parts of 494 that would take orders without question, who'd say and do anything necessary to get the job done; just as he let her become a little more like Max again, not 452, the member of an elite unit, letting her be a girl rather than the perfect solider.

This wasn't for each other, this was for themselves. Each taking from these desperate few moments what they needed, a release; a way to feel more alive than they had in they had since all if this madness had begun.

Afterward, they faced each other, not sure what to say or do.

"This didn't happen," Max said firmly, readjusting her clothes.

"Too right, it didn't," Alec replied.

He turned and walked off, leaving a confused Max behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer - Please see earlier chapters

Sorry this was meant to be up sooner but I caught the cold and have been acting pathetic for a couple of days.

* * *

Alec found John packing up his things in one of the large halls of Terminal City. He didn't know what to say to the man. How did you start a conversation with the father of the person who you were a copy of?

"You don't have to say anything," John said, stuffing things into his duffel.

Alec nodded in response.

John continued to pack his things. "I got a clean bill of health, so I'm going to go, told Ellen I would be back by now."

"I'm not him," Alec said flatly.

John nodded. "Don't expect you to be."

"I'm never going to be him."

"I know." John replied.

"What do you want from me?" Alec asked.

John shrugged. "Nothing, I don't expect anything from you."

"Then, what's the point?" Alec wasn't sure where he was going with this. "Why did you come?"

"I wanted to know," John answered. "Guess that's what makes us human, I suppose."

Alec shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm not exactly human."

"Yes, you are; where it counts, you are. You stood by your friends, your family, when they needed you; so in my book you are."

"How can you be sure?"

John smiled, thinking of the things he had faced in his lifetime, of all the things that had crossed his path. "I'm sure," he replied, involuntarily letting out a small chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Alec asked knotting his brow.

"Nothing," John said with a shake of his head before he took a long look around him, at the barely organized anarchy that made up Terminal City. He started to pack his bag again, "Understand that you probably need more time, but you could come with me?"

Everything began to swim in Alec's head, his life, what he and his kind had just been through, what having a the type of family that Max had talked about could really mean. Shit Max! Oh man, he was going to have to face the music over that one, because even though she had been a more than willing participant she was probably going to make him pay, and he'd didn't think he had the strength to deal with her putting all of her self loathing into her world famous and well practiced 'Blame Alec for everything, including the turning of Planet Earth' mode right now.

But, now he was being offered a way out, a way to leave and get his head straight, about this, about everything, but if he went with John... he took a deep breath, knowing what he had to do and shook his head. "I can't, I need to stay here, can't leave Max and Logan with Mole and Dix to run things, they'd be at each others throats within five minutes. The only time they all seem to agree is when they tell me to shut up."

John nodded, handing Alec something out his bag. It was a couple of photographs, one of Sam and Dean, they looked a little older than in the other picture but they were standing by the same large black car, Dean had Sam in a headlock. The other photo was of a woman, a boy, and a girl, in front of a bar in what looked like the middle of nowhere. There was an address on the back of it.

John picked up his bag. "You keep in touch, and if you ever need a place to stay you're more than welcome."

"Thanks," Alec knotted his brow. "...and the same goes for you, right?"

John nodded, "Of course."

Alec walked the man to the front gate, where aid organizations were being allowed in to drop off supplies. Luke was running about like a headless chicken with a clipboard, trying to keep count of blankets and food parcels.

John gave the shocked Alec a hug. "Take care of yourself, you hear."

Alec got the feeling that was more open than John got with most people. "You too."

"I guess I'll see you around, then," John said.

Alec ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I think you will."

John smiled before walking off into the chaos surrounding the Terminal City. Alec watched him go before turning around and heading back inside.

* * *

Well I hope you liked this - please let me know if you did or didn't or just to say rhubarb (why rhubarb I don't know, maybe the beecham's is finally getting to me)


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